


Love As A Construct

by Marmylade



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Betrayal, F/M, Friendship, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-04-24 15:49:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14358645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marmylade/pseuds/Marmylade
Summary: Wheatley and his friend Nora try to help Chell escape Aperture Laboratories while also trying to get out themselves. But are they confused about their feelings during this time of great danger? And what will Doug do about Wheatley's poor decision-making while his schizophrenia practically cripples him?(This is brought over from my fanfiction.net account. It's a complete work that I will be publishing chapter by chapter.)Portal 2 is a game created by the game company Valve who owns all the rights to the Portal franchise. They're incredible with story-telling and I highly encourage anyone to go play the game. You don't even necessarily need to play the first one beforehand.





	1. Second Opinion

**Author's Note:**

> Let's get right into it, shall we?

Nora whizzed along on her rail to take inventory of all the Weighted Companion Cubes. There were a lot of them and they all needed to be accounted for. Unfortunately, someone had been stealing some of them from storage, and had been painting murals of the Cubes on the walls. Nora didn’t mind the paintings but the missing Cubes would show up on her record. She didn’t want to get in trouble because of some rogue human who wanted her Cubes. Of course, no one had come to check up on her in many years so maybe she wouldn’t get in trouble.  
A notification popped up in her vision and she checked it. It was a message from her best friend Wheatley. She eagarly opened the message and read: “Have you seen the humans in stasis recently? I might need a second opinion on something...Do you think you could pop up here for a minute?”  
Nora smiled internally at this. Wheatley wanted _her _to come up to the Relaxation Center to see him! Well, maybe he hadn’t exactly said that he wanted to see her, but he could have asked any core or nanobot for a second opinion. And he had asked her. She quickly rushed up to the Relaxation Center. Her purple eye glowed bright with excitement. It didn’t take her much time to get to his department.__  
“Wheatley?” she called out in her timid voice. “Wheatley? Are you here?”  
“Nora! There you are!” Wheatley came rushing toward her on the rail and Nora shut her eye as he just barely stopped himself from crashing into her. She looked back at him shyly. They were both personality constructs, but he seemed just a tiny bit bigger than she was. She often wondered if her size reflected her weakness. When she was proven to be ineffective as a wrath dampening sphere, she was reprogrammed for supervision of the Weighted Companion Cube storage department. And while his pupil was bright white, hers was big and dark purple but with a bright light around it.  
“Oh, sorry about that. Anyway, I need your opinion here. Follow me.” He led her down the rail to one of the many doors that held human stasis chambers. He swung himself against the door to knock with one of his handles and called, “Hello? Is anyone there?” They waited a few minutes but nothing happened. Wheatley knocked again and still nothing happened. He turned to Nora again and said, “Frankly, I think they might be dead. I’ve deactivated the thing that keeps them in stasis and they still won’t answer. What do you think? Could you try to coax them out of the room?”  
“Um, okay,” Nora said with uncertainty. Wheatley moved out of the way so she could approach the door. She knocked on it gently and called, “Um, hello? Please come out. I would like it very much if you were to open the door.”  
“You’re being much too quiet, love,” Wheatley said. “You need to shout a little more.”  
Suddenly, a robotic voice overhead said, “Attention. Immediate emergency evacuation of all human stasis subjects is mandatory due to reports of a lack of life forms in the chambers. Power reserve and emergency back-up power reserve have both failed. Will the nanobot or personality construct that is presently supervising human stasis subjects please evacuate all humans from their stasis chambers before protocol implosion of each chamber.”  
Wheatley’s pupil shrank in panic as he cried out, “Lack of life forms?! Protocol implosion?! I’ll be fired for sure if all these humans die under my watch! That is to say if they aren’t all _already _dead! I should have been paying closer attention! Nora, I’m in desperate need of your help! Check all the stasis chambers for live subjects! Please, I need you!”__  
Nora nodded vigorously. “Of course I’ll help you.”  
She started to glide along the rail to check a different chamber when Wheatley stopped her. He approached her but looked around awkwardly. Nora kept a steady gaze on him, curious as to what he wanted to say to her.  
“Nora,” he finally said. “If worse comes to worst—and I suspect it just might—I want you to get out of this department. Please. Worry more about yourself than the humans.”  
“But, Wheatley, you’ll get in tr—”  
“Listen, it doesn’t matter if I get in trouble for this if it means losing you!” Wheatley insisted. “Honestly, you’re my best mate here. I don’t like talking to the nanobots, and the turrets don’t know anything but killing. I don’t even know where the other personality constructs are in here so you’re all I’ve got.”  
Nora looked down at the catwalk below them in disappointment. So it turned out he was only friends with her because she was the only bearable AI around? Wheatley noticed her shift in mood.  
“Nora? I-I didn’t mean to say that you’re only my friend because I don’t talk to anyone else. You’re my dearest friend, Nora, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Or killed. Please get out before it’s too late. Only check five rooms.”  
“B-But there are hundreds of humans to check on!”  
“Actually, it’s more like 10,000. But that’s not the point! Just check on five rooms, and then get out of here as soon as you can. Can you promise me this?”  
Nora nodded.  
“Good,” Wheatley said. “If I had arms, I’d hug you for good luck. But I don’t so I won’t. Anyway, good luck! Let’s hope we find some humans!”  
He quickly glided away on the rail and Nora was left all alone. She started to knock on the door of a nearby room. “Hello?” she called. “Is anyone alive in there?”  
She spent about three minutes on each room to make sure the humans weren’t just asleep or frightened of her. She started to worry about Wheatley at the fourth room. What if he didn’t make it out before the rooms started to implode and he got hit by a falling room and was crushed? She couldn’t bear the thought of it. He was the only AI she could work up the courage to talk to in the facility. Without him, she would only have the Companion Cubes to talk to.  
She checked another ten rooms so Wheatley wouldn’t have to check them. She wanted him to get out of this wing of the facility as soon as possible. She would take him to the wing for Companion Cube storage and they could both manage the Companion Cube inventory together. Surely he couldn’t get into _too _much trouble as long as he was still being productive, right?__  
She decided to check another five rooms just as she heard the robotic voice from overhead speak again from a room far away.  
“Please prepare for emergency evacuation.”  
Nora looked around and saw a room moving about a hundred feet above her. She panicked. Was Wheatley up there? What if he was the one moving the room? She looked around frantically, trying to figure out what to do. Should she follow the room or should she go looking to see if Wheatley was elsewhere?  
“Well, he _did _tell me to get to safety,” she mused aloud. And maybe the room was going somewhere safe. She decided to follow it, but in a very safe, roundabout way. She sped up, though, when she heard the room starting to fall apart as it moved.__


	2. Loyalty

Nora hurried around the collapsing Relaxation Chambers at a safe distance to find Wheatley. She really hoped that he was in that moving chamber. That way she’d at least know where he was. When she felt the large vibrations on her rail of something smashing itself against a wall, she got scared. What was Wheatley doing? Was he trying to crash through a wall with the room or something? No, he was stupid but he couldn’t be _that _stupid. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to try to find the room that the chamber crashed into. She tried to find her way, but it was hard to because of all the crumbling walls that shook her rail and made her feel unsteady.__  
“Please let him be okay,” she murmured. “Please, _please _let him be okay. I’m sure he’s fine. He only crashed through a wall with a Relaxation Chamber.”__  
Her panic started to subside when she heard his voice from behind at least two walls.  
“Oh. There we go,” he said proudly. “Now, I’ll be honest; you are probably in no fit state to run this particular type of cognitive gauntlet, but, um…at least you’re a good jumper. So you’ve got that—um, jumping—on your side. So just do your best and I’ll meet you up ahead.”  
_He must have found a live one, _Nora thought. _That’s good. At least he won’t get in trouble for that one. _____  
She wanted to get to him quickly but she couldn’t find an immediate rail to the room he was in. She had to talk to him and let him know that she was okay. But how?  
As she thought about this, the ceiling in front of her opened up, pulled up a bit of the track, and lowered Wheatley down with a different bit of track. His eye opened wide at the sight of her. “Nora! You’re alive!” He rushed toward her but stopped awkwardly about a foot away. “That’s, um, good! That’s very good. Are you alright?”  
“Yes,” Nora said bashfully. “I’m okay. Are you? Did you find a human?”  
“Yes! Yes, I did! Unfortunately, I think she might have a touch of brain damage…..I’m not quite sure how I will get away with that if management comes to ask about it.”  
“I don’t think management will check up on it,” Nora said. “They haven’t asked me about all the missing Companion Cubes.”  
“Missing Cubes are nothing compared to dead humans, Nora!” Wheatley exclaimed. Then he felt guilty about his tone and said, “Not that your job isn’t important! It’s _very _important! We need those Cubes for testing and whatnot!”__  
Nora looked at him gratefully. She knew he didn’t mean to come across as thoughtlessly mean sometimes, but it really would do him some good to do some thinking before he spoke. Wheatley looked down at the floor in defeat.  
“Let’s just try to pretend that I didn’t say anything,” he said.  
“It’s fine, Wheatley,” Nora said softly. “Shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on that subject? She could help us get out of here, you know. Don’t you want to get out of this facility? You talk about it all the time.”  
“Well, yes, of course I want to get out of here,” he said. “Watching after the humans is bloody dull! I dream of getting out of here and making real use of myself. But…Well, I never thought the opportunity would ever actually come up.”  
“Well, now it has. We could get out of here. I mean, _you _could.”__  
“What? Why not you, too?”  
“I would slow you down. I want you to help her to the surface so you can both get out of here.”  
“Nora...I’m not going to just leave you here all alone. What kind of person do you think I am? Nora…...N-Nory….You’re my best friend.”  
Nora looked away bashfully.  
“Nora?”  
She looked back up at him, into his blue eye that watched her thoughtfully.  
“Nora, what’s wrong? Is everything alright?”  
“Nothing’s wrong,” she answered quietly. “Listen, Wheatley, I don’t think that test subject could carry us both, and you’re much better at talking to people than I am. That’s why they put you in charge of humans and I’m in charge of Weighted Companion Cubes.”  
Wheatley started to protest, but Nora immediately stopped him. “It’s true Wheatley. That’s why I think you should go with her. Guide her to the surface and get out of here.”  
“I’ll come back for you!” Wheatley quickly vowed. “I will! I’ll send her back for you! I’ll find some way to get you out of here, as well!”  
“Wheatley, you don’t have to—”  
Wheatley suddenly slid closer to her until their eyes were a centimeter away from each other. Nora tried to keep hers steady but she was too nervous.  
“Nora,” Wheatley said sincerely, “I _will _find a way to come back for you. I promise.”__  
“O-Okay,” she said. “I believe you.”  
“Good.” He slid back a little. “I should probably go find that test subject. Keep close behind me, alright? You can stay out of sight since you’re so shy, but do stay close in case I need your help. You know how unpredictable humans can be.”  
Nora nodded. “M-Maybe I could go along right behind you until we find her?” she suggested. “So we both have company until then.”  
“Alrighty,” Wheatley said. “Shall we?” He hurried down the rail but at a speed that Nora could keep up with.


	3. The Better Boss

“So how have the Cubes been treating you?” he asked her as they slid along the rails.  
“They’re about as timid as I am so they keep to themselves,” Nora replied. “They’re a bit nervous about the man who steals them and paints murals on the walls. Or _they _say it’s a man. It could very well be a woman. The Cubes aren’t the brightest sentient beings in the facility.”__  
“Amen to that! _You’re _probably the brightest now that _she _is out of the picture.”____  
“ _She _had a name, you know. It was GLaDOS.”__  
“Haven’t you heard that saying about speaking of the devil and he shows up? I can’t quite remember how it goes exactly…”  
“There are Nanobots that are smarter than me,” Nora insisted modestly.  
“I haven’t met any yet. Frankly, love, you should be running the facility. You’d do a much better job than anyone else.”  
“Nonsense,” Nora said timidly.  
“See, that’s what makes you perfect for the job! You’re so humble, so modest. She was corrupt, but I can’t see that happening to _you _.”__  
“It probably wouldn’t happen to you, either.”  
“Nah, I’m sure it could happen to me. And anyway, I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for everything. I could barely take the pressure of being in charge of 10,000 bloody test subjects that were in stasis, for God’s sake!”  
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s much more difficult to manage human lives than the well-being of Companion Cubes. You’d be just as fit for the job as I would—maybe even better.”  
“Yeah, right,” Wheatley said with much sarcasm. “Enough of this hypothetical nonsense. It would never happen because we’re both going to get out of here soon enough, right?”  
“Right.” Nora heard a test chamber door open and close nearby. “I think we’re close to your test subject.”  
“Are we? Good. I’ll go up ahead and help her find the Handheld Portal Device. It’ll be easier to get out of here if she has that. You must stay close behind, alright? I want to know where you are in case anything else goes wrong. I might need your help.”  
“Alright. I will.”  
Wheatley zipped away on the rail and looked through a gaping hole in one of the test chamber’s walls.  
“H-Hey! You made it!” he exclaimed. “There should be a Portal Device on that podium over there.” He looked just beyond the subject and squinted his eye. “I can’t see it, though. Maybe it fell off. D’you wanna go and have a quick look?”  
Nora peeked out of the gaping hole just as the subject approached the podium. But suddenly, the floor collapsed beneath her and she fell along with it.  
“Oh!” Wheatley exclaimed. He paused to listen for any sign of life in the pit that the subject had fallen into. Then he called out, “Hello? Can you see the Portal Gun?”  
“Is she okay?” Nora asked.  
“Also, are you still alive?” Wheatley called. “That’s important. I should have asked that first. Oh, d’you know what I’m gonna do—I’m gonna work on the assumption that you’re still alive….and I’m just gonna wait for you up ahead. I’ll wait one hour, then I’ll come back; and assuming I can locate your dead body, I’ll bury you. Alright? Brilliant. Go team! See you in an hour hopefully! If you’re not…dead.”  
He turned to Nora and said, “Well, I guess we don’t really _need _to leave this place. We could just stay here for eternity.”__  
“You’re just assuming she’s dead?” Nora asked.  
“Well, it sounded like she fell considerably far,” Wheatley whined. “If she is alive then she must be paralyzed.”  
“Didn’t you see she had on the Long Fall Boots? I’m sure she’s alive. The Long Fall Boots are designed to make the subject land on their feet.”  
“Well, if you’re so sure, then let’s go find her. Maybe she _is _still alive down there.”__


End file.
